In 2008, Californians voted for real, election-day competition between Republicans and Democrats, but Proposition 11 sounded easier to implement than it's turned out to be. We hear what's happening to a process that was supposed to restore democracy. On our rebroadcast of To the Point, has the US Supreme Court scored a victory for free speech or increased the influence of money in politics in it's 5-4 ruling removing campaign spending limits for corporations.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Republicans and Democrats in state legislature disagree about almost everything else, but they have protected themselves and each other from being thrown out on election day. We hear what’s happening to Proposition 11, passed by the voters to make the Assembly and Senate politically competitive once again. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, has the US Supreme Court scored a victory for free speech or increased the influence of money in politics? We hear about last week's 5-4 ruling removing campaign spending limits for corporations.

Last week, by a vote of five to four, the US Supreme Court overturned two of its own precedents and a 63-year-old limit on corporate spending in political campaigns. The majority said it was lifting the burden of "censorship." The dissenters said it was opening the door wider than ever to corporate corruption.

Sacramento has been paralyzed by partisanship, and Republicans and Democrats have kept it that way. In 2003, they drew up their own district boundaries, to make sure that elections made no change from Democrat to Republican or vice versa. It worked almost perfectly. But two years ago, voters said they'd had enough and passed Proposition 11, giving the re-districting power to an independent commission. Now it's time for that commission to be selected so it can draw new districts based on this year's census.